• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7989-7993
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• 2014

Background: The Khon Kaen Cancer Registry (KKCR) was established in 1984. Previous population-based incidences and survivals of childhood cancer in Thailand were determined using a short cancer registration period. Materials and Methods: Data were retrieved of all children residing in Khon Kaen, between 0-15 years, diagnosed as having cancer and registered in the KKCR (1985-2009). The follow-up censored date was December 31, 2012. The childhood cancers were classified into 12 diagnostic groups, according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer. The incidence was calculated by the standard method. Survival of childhood cancer was investigated using the KKCR population-based registration data and overall survival calculated using the Kaplan Meier method. Results: In the study period, 912 newly diagnosed cases of childhood cancer were registered. The respective mean and median age was 6.4 (SD=4.6) and 6 (0-14) years. The age-peak for incidence was 0-4 years. The age-standardized rate (ASR) was 83 per million. Leukemia was the most common cancer (N=360, ASR 33.8) followed by neoplasms of the central nervous system (CNS, N=150, ASR 12.8) and lymphoma (N=79, ASR 7.0). The follow-up duration totaled 101,250 months. The death rate was 1.11 per 100 person-months (95%CI: 1.02 -1.20). The 5-year overall survival was 52% (95%CI: 53-56.9) for all cancers. The respective 5-year overall survival for (1) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), (2) acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL), (3) lymphoma, (4) germ cell tumors, (5) renal tumors, (6) retinoblastoma, (7) soft tissue tumors, (8) CNS tumors, (9) bone tumors, (10) liver tumors, and (11) neuroblastoma was (1) 51%, (2) 37%, (3) 63%, (4) 74%, (5) 67%, (6) 55%, (7) 46%, (8) 44%, (9) 36%, (10) 34%, and (11) 25%. Conclusions: The incidence of childhood cancer is lower than those of western countries. Respective overall survival for ALL, lymphoma, renal tumors, liver tumors, retinoblastoma, soft tissue tumors is lower than that reported in developed countries while survival for CNS tumors, neuroblastoma and germ cell tumors is comparable.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.31-35
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• 2012

Background and Objectives: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents approximately 80% of all lung cancers. Unfortunately, at their time of diagnosis, most patients have advanced to unresectable disease with a very poor prognosis. The oriental herbal medicine HangAm-Plus (HAP) has been developed for antitumor purposes, and several previous studies have reported its therapeutic effects. In this study, the efficacy of HAP was evaluated as a third-line treatment for advanced-stage IIIb/IV NSCLC. Methods: The study involved six patients treated at the East- West Cancer Center (EWCC) from April 2010 to October 2011. Inoperable advanced-stage IIIb/IV NSCLC patients received 3,000 or 6,000 mg of HAP on a daily basis over a 12-week period. Computed tomography (CT) scans were obtained from the patients at the time of the initial administration and after 12 weeks of treatment. We observed and analyzed the patients overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Results: Of the six patients, three expired during the study, and the three remaining patients were alive as of October 31, 2011. The OS ranged from 234 to 512 days, with a median survival of 397 days and a one-year survival rate of 66.7%. In the 12-week-interval chest CT assessment, three patients showed stable disease (SD), and the other three showed progressive disease (PD). The PFS of patients ranged from 88 to 512 days, the median PFS being 96 days. Longer OS and PFS were correlated with SD. Although not directly comparable, the OS and the PFS of this study were greater than those of the docetaxel or the best supportive care group in other studies. Conclusion: HAP may prolong the OS and the PFS of inoperable stage IIIb/IV NSCLC patients without significant adverse effects. In the future, more controlled clinical trials with larger samples from multi-centers should be conducted to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of HAP.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.136-145
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• 2011

Oral cavity cancer accounts for approximately 3-4% of all malignancies and is a significant worldwide health problem. The Korea Central Cancer Registry estimates that there will be approximately 1500 new cases of oral cancer in Korea. Oral cancer occurs most commonly in middle-aged and elderly individuals. The majority of oral malignancies occur as squamous cell carcinomas and despite remarkable advances in treatment modalities, the 5-year survival rate has not significantly improved over the past several decades, hovering at about 50% to 60%. The unfavorable 5-year survival rate may be attributable to several factors. First, oral cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage, with late stage 5-year survival rates as low as 22%. Additionally, the development of secondary primary tumors in patients with early stage disease has a major impact on survival. The early detection of oral cancer and premalignant lesions offers the promise to cure chance of oral cancer. The major diagnostics moddalities for oral cancer include oral cavity examination, supravital staining, oral cytology, and optical detection systems. But the clinical finding of oral mucosa is the most important key to confirm the oral cancer until now. The traditional clinical examination of oral cavity can be performed quickly, is without additional diagnostic expense to patients, and may be performed by health care professionals. Therefore, clinicians must be well-acquainted with clinical characteristics of oral cancer and practice routine screening for oral cancer in dental clinic to decrease the morbidity and mortality of disease.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 1999

Background : Non-small cell lung carcinoma is a common tumor with a poor prognosis. Of all malignancies, it is the main cause of death for male and female patients in the Western world. Resection remains the most effective treatment when feasible. Accurate description and classification of the extent of cancer growth are important in planning treatment, estimating prognosis, evaluating end results of therapy, and exchanging information on human cancer research. Until effective systemic therapy is available for non-small cell lung cancer, development of new treatment strategies depends on knowledge of the end results achieved for carefully staged groups of patients in the lung cancer populations. For these reasons, we investigated the survival rate in radically resected non-small cell lung cancer patients by newly revised staging system adopted by the American Joint Committee on Cancer and the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer. Methods: Clinical, surgical-pathologic and follow-up informations on 84 consecutive, previously untreated, patients who received their primary treatment for non-small cell lung cancer were investigated. Staging definitions for the T(primary tumor), N(reginal lymph node), and M(distant metastasis) components were according to the International Staging System for Lung Cancer. Death from any causes was the primary target of the evaluation. Results: The median survival rates were as follows; stage I ;79.1 months, stage II ;47.3 months, stage IIIa; 22.7 months, stage IIIb; 16.1 months, and stage IV;15.2 months versus newly revised stage Ia;58.5 months, stage I b;76.0 months, stage IIa; not available, stage IIb;43.0 months, stage IIIa;22.5 months, stage IIIb; 16.1 months, and stage IV;15.2 months. The survival rates were not significantly different between old and newly revised staging system. Cumulative percent survival at 36months after treatment was 100% in stage Ia, 80% in stage Ib, not available in stage IIa, 26 % in stage IIb, and 21 % in stage m a respectively. Conclusions: Although these data were not significantly different statistically, the newly revised lung cancer staging system might be more promising for the accurate evaluation of the prognosis in the non-small cell lung caner patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3897-3901
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• 2013

Background: Optimal treatment for prostate cancer remains a challenge worldwide. Recently, T cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (TIM-3) has been implicated in tumor biology but its contribution prostate cancer remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of TIM-3 as a prognostic marker in patients with prostate cancer. Methods: TIM-3 protein expression was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting in 137 prostate cancer tumor samples and paired adjacent benign tissue. We also performed cell proliferation assays using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyl- 2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and cell invasion assays. The effects of small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of TIM-3 (TIM-3 siRNA) in two human prostate cancer cell lines were also evaluated. Results: TIM-3 expression was higher in prostate cancer tissue than in the adjacent benign tissue (P<0.001). High TIM-3 expression was an independent predictor of both recurrence-free survival and progression-free survival. TIM-3 protein was expressed in both prostate cancer cell lines and knockdown suppressed their proliferation and invasion capacity. Conclusions: TIM-3 expression is associated with a poor prognosis in prostate cancer. Taken together, our resutlts indicate that TIM-3 is a potential prognostic marker in prostate cancer.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.847-854
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• 2016

The early landmark discoveries in cancer metabolism research have uncovered metabolic processes that support rapid proliferation, such as aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), glutaminolysis, and increased nucleotide biosynthesis. However, there are limitations to the effectiveness of specifically targeting the metabolic processes which support rapid proliferation. First, as other normal proliferative tissues also share similar metabolic features, they may also be affected by such treatments. Secondly, targeting proliferative metabolism may only target the highly proliferating "bulk tumor" cells and not the slowergrowing, clinically relevant cancer stem cell subpopulations which may be required for an effective cure. An emerging body of research indicates that altered metabolism plays key roles in supporting proliferation-independent functions of cancer such as cell survival within the ischemic and acidic tumor microenvironment, immune system evasion, and maintenance of the cancer stem cell state. As these aspects of cancer cell metabolism are critical for tumor maintenance yet are less likely to be relevant in normal cells, they represent attractive targets for cancer therapy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.756-765
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• 1997

Background : To study the prognosis of patients with lung cancer, many investigators have reported the methods to detect cell proliferation in tissues including PCNA, thymidine autoradiography, flow cytometry and Ki-67. PCNA, also known as cyclin, is a cell related nuclear protein with 36KD intranuclear polypeptide that is maximally elevated in S phase of proliferating cells. In this study, PCNA was identified by paraffin-embedding tissue using immunohistochemistry which has an advantage of simplicity and maintenance of tissue architecture. The variation of PCNA expression is known to be related with proliferating fraction, histologic type, anatomic(TNM) stage, degree of cell differentiation, S-phase fraction and survival rate. We analyzed the correlation between PCNA expression and S-phase fraction, survival. Method : To investigate expression of PCNA in primary lung cancer, we used immunohistochemical stain to paraffin-embedded sections of 57 resected primary non-small cell lung cancer specimen and the results were analyzed according to the cell type, cell differentiation, TNM stage, S-phase fraction and survival. Results : PCNA expression was divided into five group according to degree of staging(-, +, ++, +++, ++++). Squamous cell type showed high positivity than in adenocarcinoma. Nonsignificant difference related to TNM stage was noticed. Nonsignificant difference related to degree of cell differentiation was noticed. S-phase fraction was increased with advance of PCNA positivity, but it could not reach the statistic significance. The 2 year survival rate and median survival time were -50% 13 months, +75% 41.3 months, ++73% 33.6 months, +++67% 29.0 months, ++++25% 9 months with statistic significance (P<0.05, Kaplan-Meier, generalized Wilcox). Conclusion : From this study, PCNA expression was high positive in squamous cell cancer. And, there was no relationship between PCNA positivity and TNM stage, cellular differentiation or S-phase fraction. But, the patients with high positive PCNA staining showed poor survival rate than the patients with lower positive PCNA staining (p<0.05). It was concluded that PCNA immunostaining is a simple and useful method for survival prediction in paraffin embedded tissue of non-small cell lung cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2355-2362
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• 2012

The SH2B1 adaptor protein is recruited to multiple ligand-activated receptor tyrosine kinases that play important role in the physiologic and pathologic features of many cancers. The purpose of this study was to assess SH2B1 expression and to explore its contribution to the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: SH2B1 expression in 114 primary NSCLC tissue specimens was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and correlated with clinicopathological parameters and patients' outcome. Additionally, 15 paired NSCLC background tissues, 5 NSCLC cell lines and a normal HBE cell line were evaluated for SH2B1 expression by RT-PCR and immunoblotting, immunofluorescence being applied for the cell lines. Results: SH2B1 was found to be overexpressed in NSCLC tissues and NSCLC cell lines. More importantly, high SH2B1 expression was significantly associated with tumor grade, tumor size, clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and recurrence respectively. Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with high SH2B1 expression had both poorer disease-free survival and overall survival than other patients. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that SH2B1 overexpression was an independent prognostic factor for patients with NSCLC. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the SH2B1 protein may contribute to the malignant progression of NSCLC and could offer a novel prognostic indicator for patients with NSCLC.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.136-157
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• 2018

Objectives: This systematic review aimed to put the case reports of lung cancer on Korean medicine (KM) together and adopt the results in clinical practice. Methods: Researches were searched using the PubMed, EMBASE, OASIS, KoreanTK, KISTI, RISS, KISS, and NDSL. The search term were 'lung cancer' and KM. There was no restriction in year. Results: 1. Among the 48 studies, 68 patients were reported in total. The types of lung cancer were non-small-cell lung cancer (n=41) and small-cell lung cancer (n=6). 2. The number of patients who received KM therapy alone was 40. On the other hand, 25 patients were treated with KM and chemotherapy simultaneously. All case reports used herbal medicine except 2 studies. Other types of treatment were acupuncture, moxibustion, pharmacopuncture, cupping, meditation, etc. 3. Several efficacy evaluation variables were used such as tumor size, changes of symptoms, duration of survival, the quality of life, and so on. The safety was evaluated by checking adverse effects using blood test. 4. Regarding the tumor response, partial response was reported in 12 cases, stable disease was in 22 cases, 50% of the total cases, which is a high level of tumor response. Furthermore, all 11 cases with the evaluation on the length of survival showed prolonged survival than the expectancy of corresponding stage, with the stable quality of life. Conclusion: We have found that the applicability of KM for treatment of lung cancer through this review. Evidence based medicine can be realized by checking cases and applying them in clinical practice.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.209-214
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• 1994

Lung cancer is one of the most disastrous of all the current cancers in Korea. In 1990 it was projected that there would be 5, 500 new lung cancer patients in Korea and that 5, 000 would die of their disease. This is a mortality rate of 91 percent. We reviewed the surgically treated 153 bronchogenic cancer patients from January 1987 to December 1991 in St. Mary`s Hospital of Catholic University Medical College. There were 121 men and 32 women ranging in age from 18 to 83 years, with a mean of 56 years. Of the 153 patients, resection was possible in 138 patients and the resectability was 90.1 percent. Squamous cell carcinoma was present in 48 percent of patients, adenocarcinoma in 29 percent, adenosquamous carcinoma in 7 percent, large cell carcinoma in 6 percent, salivary gland tumor in 5 percent, and small cell carcinoma and carcinoid in 3 percent respectively. Postoperative cancer staging was grouped stage I 33 percent, stage II 21 percent, stage IIIa 35 percent, and stage IIIb 10 percent. Lobectomy was performed in 70 percent, pneumonectomy in 17 percent, and segmentectomy in 14 percent. Three and 5-year postoperative survival in resectable 138 patients were 47 and 29 percent respectively.